Reclaiming the Commons
Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth
Published on 27. August 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
324 pages
978-0-907791-78-2 (ISBN)
Description
Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth lays out the scientific, legal, political, and cultural struggle to defend the sovereignty of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge.
Two decades ago, at the height of globalization, there was an attempt by corporations, and the countries which represent their interests, to privatize and enclose our biological and intellectual commons. The result of this effort has become the massive destabilization of communities all over the world with the expansion of patents and intellectual property rights into the domain of biodiversity.
Today, there is a renewed attempt by global corporations to establish a regime in which biological and intellectual resources flow freely from poor countries to rich ones; and from the poorest communities to the richest corporations, with-out regulation. Reclaiming the Commons details the thirty-year cultural, political, scientific, and legal journey to protect biodiversity and indigenous knowledge from the unethical framework corporations impose on humankind in order to lay claim to life on Earth.
Vandana Shiva masterfully articulates the devastation this corporate greed has inflicted not only on agricultural communities, but on our planet and our very existence. Ultimately, she poses that the recovery of the commons is essential in restructuring our society into one that can flourish, while protecting and honoring all life on Earth. This, she says, lies in the collective recognition of common creativity and the rediscovery of our place within Nature.
Two decades ago, at the height of globalization, there was an attempt by corporations, and the countries which represent their interests, to privatize and enclose our biological and intellectual commons. The result of this effort has become the massive destabilization of communities all over the world with the expansion of patents and intellectual property rights into the domain of biodiversity.
Today, there is a renewed attempt by global corporations to establish a regime in which biological and intellectual resources flow freely from poor countries to rich ones; and from the poorest communities to the richest corporations, with-out regulation. Reclaiming the Commons details the thirty-year cultural, political, scientific, and legal journey to protect biodiversity and indigenous knowledge from the unethical framework corporations impose on humankind in order to lay claim to life on Earth.
Vandana Shiva masterfully articulates the devastation this corporate greed has inflicted not only on agricultural communities, but on our planet and our very existence. Ultimately, she poses that the recovery of the commons is essential in restructuring our society into one that can flourish, while protecting and honoring all life on Earth. This, she says, lies in the collective recognition of common creativity and the rediscovery of our place within Nature.
Reviews / Votes
"All of us who care about the future of Planet Earth must be grateful to Vandana Shiva." -Jane Goodall"A powerful, deeply moving call to rethink the very way we understand life, including our own." -Frances Moore Lappe
"As she has, nonstop for 30 years, Vandana Shiva has done it again. Reclaiming the Commons is a magnificent, profound, timely and politically vital book." -Jerry Mander
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Santa Fe, NM
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 15 to 85 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
37 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
512 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-907791-78-2 (9780907791782)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Dr. Vandana Shiva is an author, physicist, ecologist and advocate of biodiversity conservation and protection of farmers' and women's rights. Her pioneering work around food sovereignty, traditional agriculture, and women's rights created fundamental cultural shifts in how the world views these issues. Along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, and Jeremy Rifkin, Dr. Shiva is a leader and board member of the International Forum on Globalization and a prominent figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement.
Dr. Shiva founded Navdanya, an organization that promotes agroecology, seed freedom, and a vision of Earth Democracy, seeking justice for the Earth and all living beings. She has authored more than 20 books including Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth (Synergetic Press, 2020), Philanthrocapitalism & The Erosion of Democracy: A Global Citizens' Report on the Corporate Control of Technology, Health, and Agriculture (Synergetic Press, 2022) and Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change (Synergetic Press, 2022).
Dr. Shiva is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank and the International Organization for a Participatory Society. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, an honor known as an "Alternative Nobel Prize". She has received numerous other awards and honors for her work including the "Save the World" award in 2009 and the Sydney Peace Prize in 2010. Dr. Shiva's life and work is the subject of the award-winning 2021 documentary, "Seeds of Vandana Shiva."
Ronnie Cummins is founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a non-profit, US-based network of more than two million consumers dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and regenerative system of food, farming, and commerce. Cummins also serves on the steering committee of Regeneration International and OCA's Mexican affiliate, Via Organica. His latest book Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Climate, Farming, Food, and a Green New Deal was published in February 2020. He is based in Minnesota and San Miguel de Allende Mexico.
Dr. Shiva founded Navdanya, an organization that promotes agroecology, seed freedom, and a vision of Earth Democracy, seeking justice for the Earth and all living beings. She has authored more than 20 books including Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth (Synergetic Press, 2020), Philanthrocapitalism & The Erosion of Democracy: A Global Citizens' Report on the Corporate Control of Technology, Health, and Agriculture (Synergetic Press, 2022) and Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change (Synergetic Press, 2022).
Dr. Shiva is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank and the International Organization for a Participatory Society. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, an honor known as an "Alternative Nobel Prize". She has received numerous other awards and honors for her work including the "Save the World" award in 2009 and the Sydney Peace Prize in 2010. Dr. Shiva's life and work is the subject of the award-winning 2021 documentary, "Seeds of Vandana Shiva."
Ronnie Cummins is founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a non-profit, US-based network of more than two million consumers dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and regenerative system of food, farming, and commerce. Cummins also serves on the steering committee of Regeneration International and OCA's Mexican affiliate, Via Organica. His latest book Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Climate, Farming, Food, and a Green New Deal was published in February 2020. He is based in Minnesota and San Miguel de Allende Mexico.
Content
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Ronnie Cummins
Introduction: My Thirty-Year Journey on Biodiversity, Biopiracy, and Intellectual Property
ONE: Protecting Our Rich Biological and Intellectual Heritage
TWO: Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Biodiversity, and Section 3(j) of India's Patent Act
THREE: Agrobiodiversity, Seeds, India's Plant Variety Protection, and Farmers' Rights Act
FOUR: Biopiracy: The Patenting of Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity
FIVE: The Western Corporate Bias in Knowledge and Property Rights which Facilitates Biopiracy
SIX: The Enclosure and Recovery of the Commons
SEVEN: Vasudhaiva Kutumbukam: From Corporate Anthropocentrism to Earth as Family
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Ronnie Cummins
Introduction: My Thirty-Year Journey on Biodiversity, Biopiracy, and Intellectual Property
ONE: Protecting Our Rich Biological and Intellectual Heritage
TWO: Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Biodiversity, and Section 3(j) of India's Patent Act
THREE: Agrobiodiversity, Seeds, India's Plant Variety Protection, and Farmers' Rights Act
FOUR: Biopiracy: The Patenting of Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity
FIVE: The Western Corporate Bias in Knowledge and Property Rights which Facilitates Biopiracy
SIX: The Enclosure and Recovery of the Commons
SEVEN: Vasudhaiva Kutumbukam: From Corporate Anthropocentrism to Earth as Family
Notes
Index